Cuba Incorporates New Solar Park, its 18th this year

 LAS TUNAS, Cuba, Jun 19 (ACN) Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, Vice Prime Minister of Cuba, officially inaugurated today the 18th photovoltaic solar park, with a capacity of 21.8 megawatts (MW), located in the community of Nueva Línea, in the Puerto Padre municipality of Las Tunas.

This park is the first in Las Tunas province with this capacity and the fifth overall, as four smaller parks of 2.5 MW each were built years ago. This will allow the territory to generate over 30 MW in total.

Osbel Lorenzo Rodríguez, First Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, highlighted that Las Tunas is blessed with natural conditions for clean energy generation, thanks to its abundant sunlight, vast plains, and strong winds in the northern zone—ideal for wind farms.

For the extraordinary effort made during six months of work, Valdés Menéndez, Lorenzo Rodríguez, and Vicente de la O Levy, Minister of Energy and Mines, awarded recognitions to dozens of organizations and workers from different sectors who contributed to completing the project, which cost the country $16 million USD and millions of Cuban pesos.

Nueva Línea covers an area of 32 hectares, with 1,038 support tables holding 42,000 solar panels. Like most existing parks, it does not yet solve nighttime energy deficits until further investments are made in battery storage to supply the National Electric System after dark.

Las Tunas is preparing to build two more 21.8 MW solar parks, as well as a smaller 5 MW park in the municipalities of Majibacoa and Amancio. Additionally, the assembly of wind turbines for the La Herradura Uno wind farm is expected to begin in the last quarter of the year.

Mario Castillo Salas, Deputy Director of the Electric Union, told the press that the 21.8 MW solar park construction program, initiated last February, is progressing well, a crucial step toward reaching the goal of 92 planned installations by 2030.